Not a Percentage

The New Covenant Standard of Giving

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Corinthians 9. Hold your place in verse 6. As many of you well know, we have been in our study of 2 Corinthians now for several months, I guess it's been for a while, and we are now going toward the latter half of the book, beginning next week, looking at the last section, which is chapters 10 -13.

But today we are going to be finishing up the mini-series that we started, which is on chapters 8 and 9, which exist within the context of 2 Corinthians in a way that is unique to the rest of the book.

Most of 2 Corinthians is Paul's defense of his ministry because there were people in Corinth who had called his integrity into question, who had called his ministry into question. There were those who he will identify in chapters 10 -13, he identifies them as the super-apostles, and that is not a positive thing.

He's identifying them as those who see themselves as super-apostles. And we will, again, be getting back to that. But in this 2 chapters, chapters 8 and 9, Paul gives us what can easily be described as the most important section on the subject of giving in all of the New Testament.

The most important section on what it means to make an offering to the Lord that is pleasing to the Lord. And the title of my message today is, Not a Percentage. And I hope that by the very title, you understand the focus of my intent.

God is not concerned about our percentage. He is concerned about our heart. And as we will see in this text today, if you are given to a percentage amount, but you give it reluctantly or under compulsion, it does not please the Lord.

And so, please do not let your giving be based on a percentage, but be based on love for God. So, let's stand together and read, beginning at verse 6. I will be reading from the English Standard Version, and it will be on the screen.

The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things and at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will provide thanksgiving to God.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others.

While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Father, I thank you for your word, and as I am an unworthy vessel to preach your word, I pray that you would make me fit in this moment.

Fill me with your spirit, keep me from error, sanctify me with your presence, open the hearts of your people to hear your word, and Lord, those who are here who do not know you, let today be a word of challenge to them, to not trust in the things of this world, but to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He who came and was, in fact, the inexpressible gift of God. Lord, I pray that you mercy us as we study your word, that your spirit would teach us, that I would decrease, and that Christ would increase, and that as the word goes forth, that it would reach not only the ear or even the mind, but God, that it would sink down deep into the heart, for even as in this passage we see that it is with the heart that you deserve and desire to be praised.

We ask all this in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. One of the most commonly held beliefs among both Christians and non-Christians is that Christianity itself requires that a person, if he is to be faithful to God, that he must tithe on his income.

He must give a tithe to the church, and a tithe means a tenth. That's what the word tithe means. This is seen in the common vernacular of many Christians who talk about giving their tithe. It's also seen in many envelopes.

If you go into many churches, it will say tithe, tithing envelopes. We even see bumper stickers as we drive down the road that say, if 10 is enough for God, then it's enough for the IRS. So they said amen.

Amen the bumper sticker. But what if I were to say today that an obligatory 10 is not the model that is set forth in the New Covenant. In fact, the entire New Covenant standard is based not on a percentage, but rather on a principle.

And the principle is this. It may seem simple, but it's truly profound. The principle is, freely you have received, freely give. Freely you have received, freely give. And as we're going to see today, as we study Paul's words about giving, he's going to show us that the New Testament ethic of giving is not giving under compulsion, but that the ethic of New Testament giving is to give voluntarily and cheerfully.

When someone joins our church, we have a set of items that we get them to read. One is the confession for our church. One is the constitution for our church so that they understand how the church functions and membership functions and things like that and how you join the church and all of those things.

But one of the other things that we give when someone is desiring to join the church is we give them a one page statement that simply says expectations. And it has two types of expectation. It says what the church should expect from you and what you should expect from the church.

If you've never seen that form, if you're a member and say, I don't remember getting that, please come see me. I want you to have it because you should expect some things from the church. You should expect that when you come to the church that you are preached to from the Word, not merely man's opinions.

You should expect that when you are gathered together in the body that you will be cared for, that you will be loved and that you will be discipled. All of those things are things that you should expect when you come to the church.

But when we join the covenant community there is also expectations laid upon you as the person who is joining. And one of the most basic expectations is that you be here. That's actually I think the top one on the list.

That we gather together weekly for the worship of God together corporately. We do expect that. We expect that you love one another and encourage one another, pray for one another. All those are on the list.

But if you go down that list you will also find that there is a very basic expectation that as members of the body of Christ in the local community called Sovereign Grace Family Church that members will provide financial support.

That members will give. Yet that's one of the most controversial aspects of church. From the amount that's given to the manner in which it's given, the offering causes so much debate and disagreement and the issue is compounded by the existence of the many false teachers who have used that expectation to fleece the flock.

Is it not true that so many ministers are even afraid to bring up the idea of giving because giving has been so mistreated in the church. It has been so maligned by those who would harm God's people. Anytime we talk about the subject of giving as a minister there's always that bit of trepidation.

One if you're new here today the big fear is you think this is all we ever talk about because it's the only sermon you've ever heard. It's like oh my goodness the church only talks about giving. We show up to church the one day.

You're here first time. It's like it's all he ever talks about is money. Well it's all you ever heard me say then yeah. That's why I started today by reminding you we've been in 2 Corinthians now for many months.

This just happens to be where we are. But we shouldn't be ashamed to talk about this subject. We can say yes are there false teachers out there? Are there those who fleece the flock? Are there wolves?

Yes and they're wolves and we call them wolves. But there is an expectation among God's people that God's people will be givers and the Bible describes giving in 2 different ways and I want to share these on the screen with you.

There's 2 different ways that the Bible describes giving. The first way is what we would call compulsory giving. Compulsory giving is that the giver has no choice about when they give or how much they give.

And then the second type of giving is voluntary. This involves a choice in regard to when and how much is given. In fact I want to share a little bit of trivia with you. The word free will which I know is quite a bit controversial especially in reform circles but the word free will is in the Bible but it is almost only ever used to describe offerings.

Free will offerings. So there is a type of offering that is free will that is not compelled. So what type of giving is compulsory? What type of giving does the Bible describe as compulsory? Well the first thing the Bible says is compulsory are, you're going to love this, taxes.

The Bible says pay taxes to whom taxes are owed, right? You say I don't like that one. I don't like it either. But we do it because God has commanded us to do it. We are able to provide for our families because God has given us the ability to provide.

He's given us the ability to earn. He's given us the ability to make money but ultimately the money is His. So if the money is His and He says do this then I'm obligated to do it. He says pay taxes and again if you go to Romans 13 it tells us to do that and so we do it because God is in charge.

There's also another type of compulsory giving that's mentioned in the Bible and that is the tithe. When I said earlier that tithing is not a New Testament command I did not say it was not a biblical teaching.

The tithe which was the practice of giving a tenth of one's increase to God is found in the old covenant. And because of the nature of Israel, because of the way that Israel was structured the tithe was very similar to taxation.

It wasn't optional. You gave a tithe. It was a command. But if you look through the Old Testament you will see, oh and by the way the tithe actually ended up being more than just ten percent. If you add up the tithes for the year it actually ended up being more than just ten percent.

It was a tithe of this and a tithe of that and you can add it up. Some have argued around twenty-three percent. I've never done the math. I'm real bad at math so I don't want to stand firm on that but I know that it's more than we often think of the whole if ten percent is enough for God it's enough for the IRS thing.

But the point that I'm making is there were givings that were required. In the Old Testament it was the tithe. In the New Testament we were told we were to give our taxes, we were to pay our taxes and we were compelled to do so.

And again the Old Testament tithe functioned much like a tax. But there is also voluntary giving in the Old Testament. You don't necessarily have to turn there but if you want to make note of this, Exodus chapter 25 says this, The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they take for me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.

Notice it doesn't say the amount, it doesn't say what is to be taken, it says every man is moved in his heart. So that would be what we would call a voluntary gift. We also see this in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, it says then the leaders of the fathers' houses made their free will offerings.

That's again where the word free will is. As did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and of the officers of the king's work. They gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents, ten thousand derricks of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron.

And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because they had given, hear this, they had given willingly.

Because they had given willingly for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. And it goes on to say David the king also rejoiced greatly. So we have two types of giving. We have compulsory giving and then we have that which is a free will offering.

And my point in today's message, and I hope to bear this out to you, is that the only type of giving which is prescribed in the New Testament to the church, as we said we have taxes we have to pay, but the only giving that is required in the New Testament within the church is voluntary, not compulsory.

It is voluntary, not compulsory. The New Testament never describes a compulsory gift or a compulsory amount regarding the local church. And I remember years ago being in seminary class and the man who was teaching was a godly man, a loving man, and he and I would disagree on this to the hilt, but I am not in any way calling into question his godly integrity.

You know him, Brother Cruz, Dr. Cruz, godly man, am I right? A wonderful man. But I remember him saying one time that he loved to preach Malachi when he talked about tithing because Malachi says that when you hold back your tithes you are robbing God.

And he would say, some of you god robbers have God's money in your pockets. Very bold, Dr. Cruz. But unfortunately I would disagree with the good doctor because even though there is the Old Testament command to tithe, we see a much different economy in the New Covenant.

Throughout the New Covenant we never see a command to give a percentage to the church. I remember years ago I preached this message, not this one, but I preached on this subject in the past. I even wrote on it in my book, Biblically Functioning Church.

I wrote on how the church is supported. It's supported by voluntary offerings. And I remember somebody coming up to me and saying, don't say that because people are going to hear you say they don't need to give.

That's not what I'm saying, is it? What I'm saying is the giving is not compulsory and is not based on a percentage. That's the point. It's not that I'm telling you not to give. In fact, as we get into the text and as we get to the end of the text, you're going to see that it's actually much greater, not lesser.

In fact, what I find oftentimes is people who argue for the tithe are often arguing for how much little can I give and God be pleased, when the exact opposite should be the heart of giving, not can I give just this much and hey, that's 10%.

And I remember the old argument, should it be on my tithe or my gross? Or not my tithe, your net or gross? Should it be my net or my gross? I remember some old preacher said, well, do you want God to bless your net or bless your gross?

So it's all these things when it's, it's, it's, this is not the point. Paul is instructing the Corinthians in the ethic of Christian giving. One might argue and say, but wait, Paul is not talking about the weekly giving to the church.

Paul is talking about a special offering that is to go to the church in Jerusalem. Therefore, this does not apply to the weekly giving of the church. And I would disagree for two reasons. Number one, Paul is giving a blanket ethic about giving in general.

And he's using this offering to Jerusalem as his focus, but he's, that's not all that he's referring to here. He's talking about all giving in general, but also if you go back to first Corinthians chapter 16, when Paul is calling for this offering, he says, when you come together on the first day of the week, make this offering.

So this is part of the weekly offering. And again, if you grew up as a person who was told, give your tithe, give your tithe, give your tithe, I'm not, I'm not trying to stand here and, and, and, and, and kick everything you've ever learned in the teeth.

But I am saying to you that there's a greater ethic at play than percentages. There's a greater ethic at play. There's a greater ethic to be learned than am I meeting my minimum amount. And again, the principle is simple.

Freely you have received, freely give. Freely give. Give liberally. Give openly. Give generously. Give sacrificially. Those are the things that we see in scripture in the New Testament. And so we're going to walk through the text and what we're going to see is four parts of this text.

The first, we're going to see the picture. The second is the practice. The third is the providence and fourth, the praise. So let's look first at the picture of giving as Paul lays it out for us. Paul has been talking about giving all the, all the way back in chapter eight, verse one, up until this point, but now he tells us, the point is this.

As if to say, everything I've said about giving builds up to this. This is why I don't think it's just about one offering, but it's about offering in general. The point is this. And he gives us a picture of an agricultural example, which is very similar to what Jesus would often do.

Jesus, when he would give his lessons, his parables, would often have an agricultural dimension. He says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Now, Paul is quoting here a proverbial truth. It's not a direct proverb, but this can be tied to several of the proverbs of the Old Testament, particularly Proverbs 11, verse 24. One gives freely, yet grows the richer.

Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. See, the idea is the one who gives freely is the one who himself is blessed, but the one who withholds, who is greedy, who is not generous, that person suffers want.

And so, Paul is using that principle and he is now applying it to a picture. And the picture is that of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping is a huge picture in the Bible. It's used all the time throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

We're told in the Old Testament about whoever sows injustice will reap calamity. That's Proverbs 22, verse 8. We're told in the book of Job, as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

So this idea of sowing and reaping is just a principle laid out throughout the Bible because it was understood in an agrarian culture. Many of us have never sowed any real seeds, or maybe we have, but it hasn't been much.

We've got a few people with some tremendously green thumbs. Rachel knows I was going to look at her. Her and Jordan have tremendous ability to just grow these massive gardens and they're beautiful. I have not that gift.

We've tried. We really have. But it's just not our gift. And Jennifer does a good job when she does it, but it's just, it's hard. But one thing that's interesting is the land that we live on, and this is the illustration I want to give.

We live on two acres of land in Callahan, and the man who lived there before is a man that I grew up with. We went to high school together, graduated together. So when I bought the house, he's still my, you know, my good friend.

And he comes over to the house sometimes and we talk about what he used to do there and what I do there. And we certainly have different lifestyles. He's very much into agriculture. Agriculture and the back part of our land, the back acre, he had almost entirely devoted to a garden.

And so in that garden that he had, which was not really a garden, it was a growing field. He had corn and he had peas and he had squash and he had all these things that were a massive garden. Jennifer and I did eight by ten feet.

Eight foot this way, ten foot that way. We plowed up a little bit, put a little seed. Actually the first year, I didn't know you're supposed to spread the seed out, so I put a bunch of seeds here, a bunch of seeds here.

Again, I don't know anything. I just thought, well, if one works, then more than one should work better. That's not how it works at all. But we tried and failed. But the point I'm making is the principle of sowing bountifully, reaping bountifully.

When he took that whole back acre and he plowed that whole back acre and he planted seed in that whole back acre, when it came time for the harvest, it took him several days to harvest the food because he sowed bountifully and he reaped bountifully.

I, on the other hand, every once in a while would get a squash. I don't even like squash. It was the only thing we get to grow because we were only sowing a little, that eight by ten square. That is the picture Paul wants in our mind.

He wants us to understand that sowing, in this sense, sowing is the act of distributing what we've been given. It's the act of spreading out what has been entrusted to us. It's the giving. And he says the one who sows a lot will reap a lot.

And the one who sows a little will reap a little. Now right away that sounds like some health and wealth business right there. I mean straight up it sounds like some Kenneth Copeland, you know, Joel Osteen nonsense coming out of this pulpit.

I promise it's not. But there is a principle at play. When we hold back, we see less of a return. That's the point. When we give generously, we see it expand. But when we hold back, we don't see it expand.

That's the principle of the picture being given. And off of that principle, he moves into the practice, which is verse 7. And I'm going to say I highlighted it. If you look here, I highlighted verse 7.

I did so because I believe that this verse constitutes the foundational Christian ethic of giving in the New Testament. I believe this verse can stand on its own, even though we're looking at it within a context.

I believe this verse can stand on its own. If someone were to say, what does the New Testament teach about giving? This is it. This is the practice. It says each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

What's interesting there is depending on the translation you have, like if you have the New American Standard Bible, which I know Mike uses, you notice the word must is in italics because it's not in the original language, but it's implied in the original language that we are to give.

And so while Paul is talking about a voluntary offering, he is not diminishing the urgency of it. He's not saying offerings or giving is optional. He's saying it's voluntary and there is a difference.

We're not saying it doesn't matter if we don't give. What he is saying is that when we give, this is how it is to be done. I like what Ellicott says in his commentary. He quotes the King James, every man according as he has purposed or purposeth in the King James.

He says this, the verb which does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament is used in its full ethical significance as indicating not a passing impulse nor a vague wish, but a deliberate resolve deciding both on the end and on the means for its attainment.

There is a deliberate resolve in this. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart or as he has purposed in his heart. The verb there has purposed. This is a decision which is arrived at not haphazardly, not capriciously, not whimsically, but is arrived at prayerfully and thoughtfully.

He has made a decision, he has purposed in his heart to do this thing because it matters. Might I say this to you today, church, giving matters. Paul is spending two whole chapters in this book describing the gift.

It matters. He says each one must give as he has purposed, as he has decided in his heart. And then he gives the negative, not reluctantly. Not that way. That word means grievously, sorrowfully, regretfully.

Not that way. He must give as he has decided in his heart because he has determined in his heart this is what he should give, not because he feels like he has to, but because he wants to. He's not sad about it, he's not sorrowful over it, he's not regretful of having given the gift, but he has given it not reluctantly, nor under compulsion.

The word compulsion means of necessity or of obligation. Again this decision is to be arrived at prayerfully and thoughtfully, not under compulsion. Not sad, sorrowful, regretful, miserable. And then it says something that should strike us because it gives us the reason why.

He says each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. John Piper, in referencing this text, made an interesting point. He said God's love has been set upon us since the foundation of the world.

God has set his love upon us. We read this in Ephesians where it tells us that very thing. In fact it tells us that he saved us because of his great love for us. So God loved us before we were good givers.

God loved us when we were still dead in our trespasses and sins. So how can the same writer who said that in Ephesians chapter 2, how can the same writer who said God loved you even before you were in your mother's womb, that God has loved you from the foundation of the world, how can the same writer who says that say, well now God loves a cheerful giver?

Does that mean he loves the cheerful giver more? That is not the point. The point is that in which God delights. Does the Bible say we grieve God? It says not to, right? So that indicates that it's possible, right?

It says do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So in that case we know that's a negative. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. But we can also do that which is delightful to God. That which he loves. And God is delighted in the giver who gives cheerfully.

Now here's the great part about that, is what the word cheerfully in the original language made me happy. Because the Greek underlying word for cheerful is the word hilaros. And it's where we get the word hilarious.

You might understand why I like that word. Because I fancy myself as being hilarious. No, I like to joke and laugh and I love to make people smile. It's just part of my nature. And the way we use the word hilarious is certainly an evolved use.

Because when we think of hilarious we think of knee slap, funny, ha ha ha, hilarious. But the idea here is the idea that the person who gives does so joyfully, smiling, happy giver. That's the point. The giver who gives that God delights in, the giver that gives that God loves is the giver who gives with a joyful countenance.

Not one that says I didn't want to do it, I didn't feel like it, I didn't want to give. But I gave because I had to know this is the person who gives. Because God has opened their heart they now desire it.

And when they do it, it's not a tight fist but it's an open hand. And it says, God, what I have is yours and I give back to you what you've given to me. And it's a joy. I told this story the other night, Wednesday night.

By the way, if you guys haven't been coming on Wednesday night, we've been spending more time in prayer, we've been spending more time talking about the sermon from Sunday. It's been a really great time and we're talking about this.

Billy Graham told a story about he had gone to preach at a little church and his wife was with him and when it came time, before he was to preach, they sent the plate around for an offering. And he pulled out his wallet and he said, I had a $1 bill and a $20 bill.

He says, so I took out what I thought was the $1 bill and I put it in the offering plate. And then when I looked down, I realized I had given the $20 bill. Now, this is Billy Graham telling the story.

I'm not making up, you know, something on his account. He tells the story because he said he was disappointed. They had given the $20. And he said, to make matters worse, when it was over, he said, they forgot to give me my honorarium.

And that's how I was making my living at the time as I was going around speaking and they would pay an honorarium. He says, and the church secretary forgot to pay me my honorarium. So as I was leaving, I had given all, you know, all but $1 of what I had.

And I get in the car and I didn't get my honorarium. So I'm sad and I'm sitting next to my wife and we're going down the road. And I said, honey, you know, I didn't mean to give the $20. I meant to give the $1.

And she says, well, you only get credit for the $1. I always love that story because, one, I like the fact that he was honest. You know, there are times where we do have a hard time being cheerful givers.

And that might be something fearful to say. But sometimes it's a hard thing to give. And sometimes it does feel like, you know what, this would be easier if I didn't do this. I don't want you to think for a second that anyone is calling into your, calling into question your integrity or love for the Lord because you've ever struggled with what to do about giving and how much to give.

Please, because we all deal with the same sinful inclinations in the heart. So in no way am I saying that if you've ever had an issue with this, then your offering didn't count in some way or something like that.

But Paul is giving us the ethic. The ethic is, God has been so gracious with us. Should we not want to be just as generous with us as, or be just as generous with others as he has been with us? In fact, I haven't gotten there yet and I know we will.

But at the very end of this chapter, he explodes in this doxology. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Why did Paul explode with that doxology? Because that's the whole point of all of this. I have a desire to give because I've been given to.

How much have I received? The Bible says I don't have anything that I have that I didn't receive from God. No talent that I have, no treasure that I have, no health that I have, no feelings of joy or any of that.

It all comes from God. And therefore, if I know that I am not the owner of these things, but the manager of these things, and God has made me a steward, and he tells me that it is required of a steward that he be found what?

Faithful. Then the desire of my heart should be faithfulness with what he has given me. This is the Christian ethic, to be faithful with what God has given to me. Joyfully faithful. You remember the men who got the three talents?

Or the three men who got the talents? The master went away, and when he came back, the one had doubled the talents, and he says, well done, my good and faithful servant. The second one had doubled his talents.

Even though he had received less, he still doubled it. And he said, well done. Same commendation, well done, good and faithful servant. But then you come to the third man. What did the third man say? I buried in the ground because I knew you were a harsh man, and you reap where you didn't sow, and you take what isn't yours.

And the master took away what he had and gave it to the other men, because he said he was a wicked servant. What made the man wicked? Because he was a bad manager? He was a bad steward? He could have at least put the money in the bank and drew interest?

The worst thing about that man was how he looked at the master. You see, when we give, we're giving to God who so loved us that He gave Himself for us. That He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

We serve a God who is the very example of free giving. He gives us His grace, and therefore He tells us to also give freely. We're never more like Christ than when we are generous, because He has been so generous to us.

And therefore, it cannot be compelled and mustn't be manipulated. This is the danger of all of these television preachers. Oh, somebody out there's got $1 ,000, you need to sow that seed. May God break his teeth and shut his mouth.

Because such is dangerous. And it manipulates the people of God to give not with joy, but under compulsion. So we move now to the providence. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things, that at all times you may abound in every good work.

Why is He saying that? Why is He adding that to the end of that section? Not the end, but after He just made this wonderful proclamation about God loving the cheerful giver. Why does He say, verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound to you?

Because He's saying this, you who are the cheerful giver, you who have given not under compulsion, not reluctantly. Understand this, God is able to do much more with your faithfulness than you could ever do without it.

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things, and at all times you may abound in every good work. And then He quotes from Psalm 112, verse 9. As it is written, He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.